2025 Recap

 As little as I've blogged the last several years, I have managed to do an annual "year in review"-type post most years.  Here is a recap of our 2025.

I started the year off flying to Kauai!  Not a bad start to the year.  A friend had turned 60 the previous October and didn't manage to put anything together for her birthday, but three of us ended up meeting in Kauai in January. We (me, Paul and the girls) had just gone for spring break in 2024, so it was weird to go back so soon, but we had a great time and I had the chance to see some things that I didn't see the first time.

The girls turned 17 in February and we celebrate with dinner at Agave.

In May we celebrated 19 years of marriage.  Nothing too big, just dinner at an Italian restaurant.

In June Olivia went to her boyfiend's prom (he was a senior last year).  Groups of prom-goers and their parents always go to the golf course for photos.  Earlier that day, a bunch of her friends came over for "Brunch and Bouquets".

Later in June Paul and I hosted a couples' weekend at Crescent Bar.  We all went to the winery one night and enjoyed some yummy food, wine and live music.

We got seating around a fire pit with a great view of the cliffs

In July the girls had their senior photo shoot.  We went to a spot up at Snoqualmie Pass where we had to hike down to the river (no trail, just blazing our own).  They went to a few other nearby locations, too, but Paul and I took off after the river part.

We also went to the Morgan Wallen concert, which was so awesome, and my first country concert, other than Kenny Rogers back in the 80s.

We took our annual family trip in August.  We went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and Jackson, Wyoming.  It was really fun and the scenery was amazing!  I'm going to do a separate post on that trip, though, so for now I'll just post a few photos.

At the end of August, the girls started their SENIOR YEAR!  Kayley is doing running start again, though, so she didn't actually start until the end of September. 

Oops, she misspelled "senior"

In September Paul and I went to his 40th class reunion.  It was the first one he ever went to.  It was held at someone's property that was a few years behind him in school that has kind of an event space, I guess. 

Paul (middle) and some long lost buddies

Fire pit and live band

October was the girls' last homecoming.  Olivia and a group of friends gathered at a friend's house for photos, then the all went in a limousine to dinner and not sure what else.  Maybe another friend's place to hang out, not sure.

Nothing noteworthy happened in November, but in December Olivia and I were baptized!

Olivia, Pastor Baly and her Young Life Leader, Madison

Me and Pastor Baly

Olivia and her sweet Young Life Leader, Madison

On Christmas Eve we went out to dinner then church, where we got a rare photo of all 4 of us.

On Christmas Day Paul’s mom and sister came here and we had turkey dinner and opened gifts. One of my gifts from Paul was tickets to Elf the Musical. We went to the matinee the Saturday after Christmas. It was great to go to the 5th Avenue Theater again because I hadn’t been there in probably 20 years or so. After the show we had an early dinner at Yard House which was really good and I was excited to finally go there.

We wrapped up the year by going to our friends’ house for New Year’s Eve.  We played games, ate yummy food, and had a great time.  Overall, 2025 was a great year.